SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORY QUARTERLY ARTICLE DOCUMENTING ROBINSON MUSEUM'S VIETNAM WAR ART EXHIBIT FEATURING THE WORK OF SEVENTEEN COMBAT ARTIST INCLUDING SOUTH DAKOTA ARTIST JAMES POLLOCK

US Army Combat Art Team IV

15 August-15 October, 1967, Vietnam
16 October-31 December 1967, Hawaii

Team IV members:
Sp/4 James Pollock from South Dakota
Sp/4 Daniel Lopez from California
Sp/4 Samuel Alexander from Mississippi
Sp/5 Burdell Moody from Arizona
Sgt. Ronald Wilson from Utah
Technical Supervisor Lt. Frank M. Thomas

James Pollock's home state was and still is South Dakota. At the time of his selection to US Army Combat Artist Team IV he was serving as a Sp/4 postal clerk with First Base Post Office, 8th US Army, and was stationed at Camp Ames near Taejon, South Korea. All artwork completed as a soldier artist are in the Military History War Art Collection in Washington D.C.

The following article was published in SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORY, South Dakota Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 10 No. 2 Spring, 1980 p. 176. in conjunction with a US Army Military History Vietnam War Art Collection traveling exhibit brought to South Dakota by the State run Robinson Museum in Pierre, SD. The exhibit ran from April 21-May 18, 1980.
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SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORY Quarterly

The Robinson Museum's '"'Vietnam War Art'"' exhibit features the works of seventeen combat artists, including those of James Pollock (left), a native of Pollock, South Dakota. Pollock, a graduate of South Dakota State University with a major in art, toured Vietnam in the fall of 1967 as a member of the army's Combat Artist Team IV. A total of five teams of army artists (five men on each team) recorded the Vietnam War for future reference and historical documentation. The artists, who were also soldiers, entered their work in army-sponsored competition, and a total of thirty were chosen to work in Vietnam.

Armed with a pen, sketch pad and a .45-cal. automatic pistol, Pollock recorded the everyday existence of the Vietnam soldier. '"'Boredom, loneliness, and resentment were common feelings among Vietnam soldiers,'"' Pollock recalls, and his combat drawings reflect these feelings. The subjects of his drawings include the native people of Vietnam, the countryside, and the routine operations of war in the jungle. Pollock did rough sketches in the field and later transferred the scenes to canvas with oils. All war art done by combat artists is in the U.S. Army War Art collection, from which the army arranges shows like the one at Robinson Museum from 21 April to 18 May.

End of SD History story.

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